New York City candidate for mayor Andrew Cuomo has been broadly called racist following his official X account posted—and then deleted—a computer-made ad depicting “criminals for Zohran Mamdani.”
Less than twenty minutes into the second mayoral debate, Cuomo’s official account tweeted the video. It was widely redistributed before being deleted.
Video Content and Imagery
The video, which has been saved and reshared by various people, runs a little over two minutes and opens with an AI iteration of Mamdani, first running through the streets of NYC and subsequently consuming rice using his hands.
It goes on to show an African American man in a headscarf stealing, an individual mistreating a female, a human trafficker, a drug dealer, and additional figures, all showing backing for Mamdani.
Public Reaction
Response to the video was swift and critical. Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, called it “deeply offensive and full of racial tropes, featuring an African American male dressed like a pimp trafficking a car full of white women. Cuomo needs to be consigned to history’s dustbin.”
The AI-generated ad was denounced as ‘next-level fascist AI slop.’
A media executive, executive producer of a news program, pointed to the depiction of the keffiyeh and questioned via social media: “How are Palestinian residents of NYC expected to react about this, or do they not matter?”
A professor, associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at a university, wrote on a social platform: “This represents next level fascist AI trash. Additionally, it’s a strange ‘best-of’ of frightening clichés from NYC history.”
A news anchor, anchor of MSNBC’s The Weekend, said: “Well this is disheartening. And quite bigoted.”
Election Strategy
This video continues a pattern from the Cuomo campaign, which has released a handful of AI-generated videos ahead of November 4. In one early October video, Cuomo was seen working different jobs throughout NYC including driving a subway car, trading on the New York stock exchange and cleaning skyscraper windows.
In response, Mamdani shared on Instagram: “In a city of top-tier creatives and production crew hunting for the next gig, the candidate created a commercial the same way he wrote his housing policy: with AI. Alternatively, perhaps a synthetic Cuomo is better than the real one?”
Recently, Cuomo posted another clip featuring an AI-generated Bill de Blasio and, once more, Mamdani. This clip attempted to paint Mamdani as a “mini” De Blasio and highlight a moment from the initial debate where Cuomo compared the ex-mayor to the aspiring mayor.
The Cuomo and Mamdani campaigns have not immediately respond to inquiries.
